GROUSE 



125 



eighty per cent of his bag consists of cocks. There is but 

 little good shooting to be had in those islands before the 

 end of October or beginning of November, as, until that 

 season, the birds will not sit to dogs, but run far ahead of 

 them and rise out of shot. They seldom pack, and unless 

 forced together bv driving thev remain singly or in little 



O */ *>' O J 



parties until February, when 

 they pair. They also differ in 

 that they are remarkably silent 

 birds, being hardly ever heard 

 to crow. 



THE APPEARANCE OF THE PEREGRINE. 



It is very rare for Grouse to alight elsewhere than on 

 terra firma, yet they may at times be seen sitting on 

 stone walls or, more rarely, wire fences. They do, how- 

 ever, occasionally alight on trees, or, to speak more 

 correctly, bushes. In Westmoreland, in the winter 

 months, when food becomes scarce and a change of diet 

 is necessarv, the Grouse sometimes leave the fells and 



